No Health Insurance? No Classes. Wait? what? | UNLV CSUN

No Health Insurance? No Classes. Wait? what?
Student Body President Mark Ciavola
February 26, 2013

For years, UNLV students have had to deal with a bad economy and job market, budget cuts, tuition and fee increases, less than stellar student services, a lack of class sections, GAs teaching instead of professors, and more. But nothing comes close to the staggering audacity of ?Mandatory Health Insurance as a Condition of Enrollment.?

When the NSHE Board of Regents meet this Thursday, they will be considering a proposal which ? if passed ? would allow institutions in Nevada to require that students prove they have health insurance in order to enroll in classes. What?s worse? They?d have to prove it every single semester.

As if this wasn?t outrageous enough, the reasons don?t add up.

In a committee meeting, held to determine the effects of this policy on various UNLV departments, I was told that the reasons were as follows:

Reasons vs. Reality

Reason #1. In order to offer a low-cost Student Health Insurance Plan at UNLV, there need to be more students enrolled in the plan to lower premiums.

Reason #2. The new national health care law requires everyone to have health insurance, so this policy would be in line with the new law.

Reason #3. Having students without insurance on campus, or not offering students health insurance on campus, could result in increased liability for the university.

Here?s the reality:

Reality #1: Most students don?t know about the Student Health Insurance Plan because it isn?t advertised. Until it is advertised, it?s difficult to complain about low enrollment and be taken seriously. I suggested to the committee that we add a page during enrollment on MyUNLV that advertises the health insurance plan, with an opt-in/opt-out feature. That way, it is guaranteed to be advertised to every student.

Reality #2: It is not UNLV?s responsibility to enforce the new federal health care law. Furthermore, if a student chooses to pay the penalty ($750) rather than purchase health insurance ($2,000), they should still be able to take classes at UNLV. Under this new measure they wouldn?t be able to. That?s just wrong.

Reality #3: The opt-in/opt-out feature during enrollment will solve this problem. However, the fact that options like an opt-in/out and advertising to students were not considered prior to jumping to mandatory health insurance as a condition of enrollment is disturbing.

I?m happy to say that the CSUN Senate, last Thursday, unanimously passed a resolution opposing Mandatory Health Insurance as a Condition of Enrollment. Furthermore, I will be contacting all of the NSHE Board of Regents regarding this issue, and speaking out against it at their meeting this Thursday.

I will keep students up to date on this issue, as it is an important one that affects us all. The cost of education is high enough without adding this unnecessary burden. I, for one, am tired of the quality of our education and student services decreasing while our tuition and fees continue to rise. We?ve been fortunate that tuition has remained steady for the past year and that we have been able to stop certain fees from being passed. However, we need to continue that fight and ensure that the students are represented properly on these issues.

Stay tuned!

Source: http://unlvcsun.com/no-health-insurance-no-classes-wait-what/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=no-health-insurance-no-classes-wait-what

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